Dream machine I

　　A car that makes highways obsolete may be more than pie-in-the-sky.

　　When the bubble canopy(座舱盖) is lowered, enveloping( 盖住) you in the m400 skycar's cockpit(座舱), you become lo st in its possiblities.

　　A model is tested in a wind tunnel. The single stic k that controls pitch, yaw, and direction falls to hand . Eight ignition switches and starter buttons are at th e ready. The hood slopes away, braced by two rounded du cts housing four of the eight rotary engines that lift you with 720 horsepower,then lanuch you into the sky at the more than a mile a minute.

　　The M400 is a flying car that promises to let you t ake off from your backyard-assuming you have a pretty b ig backyard-and fly to your destination at 350 mph, ign oring, if not gazing condescendingly upon, land-bound c ommuters stuck in traffic below.

　　The brainchild of 63-year-old paul moller, the M400 lifts off on the thrust of four set of shrouded, ducted fans-quieter and less dangerous to your neighbor than a helicopter. In forward flight, the low drag of its lift ing surfaces promises twice the speed of a rotary wing. Its control system should make it as easy to fly as dri ving a car-unlike a helicopter, which requires a highly skilled pilot.

　　But for now, the M400 sits in a davis, california, shop, where its promise has both tantalized and frustra ted supporters and lent ammunition to detractors for ne arly a decade.

　　To get to this point, moller has spent a personal f ortune and millions of dollars in investors' money tack ling problems that have daunted aircraft designers for half a century. Vertical takeoff is a relatively minor hurdle: developing a lightweight,low-cost, reliable pow erplant, computer controls, and a way around the peril of turning an a average driver loose in such a craft ar e more challenging.

　　Moller himself is an articulate, successful invento r-entrepreneur and former college professor with a PH.D in aeronautics. And he not only believes in flying sauc eers, he owns one.